Would you throw 50 million dollars to the wastebasket? So that was exactly what - in opinion of the expert of the University of Columbia James Beck- the Metropolitan Museum of New York did in 2003, when this institution acquired the Madonna and child (known as the Stoclet Madonna, as it was previously in the Stoclet collection of Brussels), a panel by Duccio da Buonisegna which is- in his opinion- completely false, having has been created in later dates by another painter following the style of the sienese master.

The answer of the American Museum has been immediate, affirming that the numerous analysis made on the painting have demonstrated that the table is a genuine work by Duccio

 

ABOUT DUCCIO DA BUONINSEGNA

Duccio da Buoninsegna ( Siena , 1255 - 1319) is the founder of the sienese School and, along with Giotto di Bondone, the initiator of all the Italian Renaissance painting. Very influenced by the Byzantine Art and iconography, its Art is gradually evolving towards a greater humanization of the figures and a much more interesting iconography. Its unquestionable masterpiece, the culmination of Duccio's Art, is the polyptych of The Maestá (the Majesty), now exhibited in the Museum of the Cathedral of Siena, although several of their tables are today dispersed in several museums of the world.